"Deriously, Dadrien, I'm find!"

"Not to sound like someone who always quotes Friends, but, when you put a 'd' on the end of 'fine', then you're definitely not fine!" Adrien wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders and began to lead her back to the bedroom. "Now, let me put you down to rest and I'll go see Emma and Louis' teacher. It'll be find. I've got it!"

Marinette slapped his arm playfully as they continued from their lounge and up into their bedroom. It was Emma and Louis' first parent/teacher meeting and she was gutted to have to miss it. The twins had just completed their first month at Kindergarten at the tender age of three, and Marinette had been so excited to see how they were doing.

She never wanted to be 'one of those parents', but she couldn't help it. Her kids were insanely smart and she was insanely proud of them ... they both were. When Marinette had gotten pregnant with the twins she had only just turned twenty years old, and as excited as she was to be a maman, she was terrified something would go wrong, or they'd struggle to be good parents. Adrien had proposed when they were eighteen, and they'd been living together for just over a year, so they knew they were in a stable environment for the children, regardless of not being married.

Her parents hadn't even batted an eyelid when she'd told them she was pregnant, though they were a little more shocked when they found out she was having twins. Theoretically the gene was strong for that to happen, so why they were surprised, nobody knew. Gabriel, on the other hand, well, it was lucky he was petrified of his daughter-in-law 'to be', because he was not a happy chappy. Adrien 'knocking' someone up unmarried was one of his worst nightmares, but after Nathalie threw in her two cents Gabriel stopped acting like a spoilt child and actually supported his son through the beginning of parenthood. They actually spoke almost once a month.

So here they were, three years later, blissfully happy and about to see how their little whippersnappers were doing in kindergarten. God, they both loved their kids.

"Dan dou make sured dou ask adout da reading?"

"Wow, this is worse than the stuttering!" A sudden appearance of a black kwami added to the chaos with Marinette attempting to scold him as Adrien threw an arm up in the air ready to swat him.

"Pag, I'd bake bu eat baby bell if you don't stob!"

"Marinette, you need some sort of steam inhalation! No one can understand a word you're saying." Tikki flew over, her eyebrows creasing down as she looked over the Guardian. Marinette looked awful.

"Bed! Now!" Adrien pretty much threw Marinette onto the bed and tucked her in under the duvet.

"Dat dwas dot!"

"Yeah well, so is your temperature! The twins are with your parents, I'll go to the kindergarten and then pick them up on the way home. Do you want me to ask your Maman to make some of your favourite soup?"

A whimpered 'yes' left the confines of their puffy duvet as Marinette disappeared under the Egyptian cotton, finally giving in and beginning to relax. Adrien lent down to press a kiss to his wife's burning forehead. "Sleep now, M'Lady. Everything will be fine. I promise."

•••••

"M. Agreste, it's so nice to finally meet you."

Adrien walked forward and stretched a hand out for Ms. Lytchett, taking her own in his and giving it a quick shake. "Please, just call me Adrien."

Undoing the top button of his suit jacket, Adrien swooped it to the side before pulling the top of his trousers up slightly and settling into the crazy small chair. Unfortunately, Adrien hadn't prepared for such a big drop, clutching hold of the table to keep his balance and not topple the chair over. Balancing on the two back legs, Adrien had flashbacks of times as a child when he'd rocked too much and fell backwards. A reminiscent pain shot through his head and righted himself, moving his legs like a baby deer as he tried to position them somewhere comfortable. These chairs were no good for his long legs.

Adrien studied her and she must have only been a year, maybe two, younger than him and Marinette. The kids seemed to love her though and that's all that mattered. "Is there no Mlle. Agreste?" The young teacher asked.

She was a pretty blonde, with striking blue eyes. He unconsciously compared them to Marinette's thinking that, even though they were a dazzling blue, they were dull when compared to his wife's. The next thing he noticed was how small she was. She must have only been the same height as Marinette. The sudden thought of his wife sitting on one of the chairs made him smile to himself. She'd look adorable. He noticed the teacher was looking at him in a strange way. Thinking back, he tried to remember what she'd asked.

Oh yeah, his wife!

"Unfortunately not, I laid her to rest just before I came here. She hadn't been well for a while and suddenly it caught up with her."

"Oh, Monsieur Agreste, that's so sad to hear." Adrien stared as he noticed Ms. Lytchett had reached out and placed her hand delicately on his shoulder. "Is there anything we can do to support you?"

"No, no, it's fine. We're just carrying on as best as we can, you know, there's nothing we can do to change it. It'll be hard though, trying to do everything myself. Luckily, her parents are amazing."

"That's great to hear, M. Agreste."

"Adrien," he corrected with a smile, only to be met with a smile back.

"If I'm calling you Adrien, I suppose you can call me Melissa." She removed her hand from his shoulder, brushing a stray hair behind her ear in a slow, shy way.

He wondered if he was intimidating her. She seemed shy and reserved, and his past repertoire as a model always seemed to have an impact on people that he met, especially those around his age. They must have been fans of him in his younger days.

"If there's anything we can do, please let us know. The children's well-being is key to us, but we're also here to support the parents too. You can always drop in to talk about any concerns, or contact us via phone and email."

Oh, wow! Adrien was taken aback, he didn't realise the lengths the kindergarten would go to help out in times of sick parents. He always thought the teachers would see it just as an excuse for a lack of homework, or sports kit.

"That's really kind of you, Melissa, thank you. So, how are my monkeys doing?"

Ms. Lytchett, sorry, Melissa, pulled out two folders each containing the name of a twin. Looking at the folder he could see Emma's was slightly thicker than Louis'.

"I don't want you to worry about this too much, Adrien, after everything you've been through the children are doing amazing. Louis is very quiet but is thriving. Here -" She opened the folder and pulled out what looked like an assessment sheet. Ticks were placed against letters, numbers and shapes, and from what he could see, Louis could count to one hundred and know most of his shapes and letters. The pride was radiating from Adrien.

"Oh wow, he's doing amazing. How about Emma?" He moved his eyes to the second folder and watched as more tick sheets appeared on the desk.

"As you see, we've had to do some additional intervention work with Emma. She's half way with her letters and knows basic shapes. It's her counting which isn't quite where it should be." This shocked Adrien. Both himself and Marinette were very well rounded students, and both were in the top percentages of their classes.

"How low are we talking?" Adrien asked, moving forward and looking over the sheet. He lifted it slightly off the table to read it. It seemed she was counting to ten and could match numbers to items, at only three years old Adrien thought it was good. She was never going to be like Louis, her ability came more in physical skill than mental skill.

"She's about average."

Adrien nodded, and wondered how he was going to phrase his next sentence without revealing his true, angry, feelings. "That seems perfectly fine with me, and I'm sure her Maman would agree. Not all children are like Louis, and we understand that."

Melissa reached forward and placed her hand over his as he looked over her assessment again. Adrien's eyes shot up as he felt her thumb beginning to circle over the back of his hand. He placed the paper back down and moved his hands into his lap. He wondered if she realised it was his hand she was stroking, and he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed for her incase she didn't.

"You're definitely right there. They're wonderful children, Adrien, you are very lucky."

The pride consumed him. Yes he was ridiculously lucky, and some of that came down to his little human lucky charm currently lying in bed sniffing and sneezing her head off. He hoped Tikki was making sure she rested, he hated seeing Marinette ill, she was the strong one. The heart. He was lost when she wasn't by his side.

"I am."

Melissa smiled, and shuffled the papers again. He watched her curiously, noticing her body language was changing. "So how are you Adrien?"

"I'm good, yeah. Just worried about being a single father for a while." He laughed heartily at his joke, knowing full well that if Marinette had been there she would have smacked him on the bicep.

"Oh, so, you're hoping it'll only be for a short time?" She asked, placing the documents back into the correct folder.

"Well, yeah, I like cuddles too much to go without for too long." He smiled, and Melissa met his eye. She laughed and he couldn't help but notice how white her teeth were. They must have been veneers, or bleached. Did the woman not drink coffee? How could she work with kids and not drink tea or coffee?

"I completely understand that. It's been too long since I've cuddled."

"Awww, no. You're definitely missing out! You need to get on it." He dropped her a wink and settled back in the chair as best as he could, his award winning smile plastered on his face and one ankle crossed over his knee.

"I'm trying," she giggled, "but obviously I'm not pretty enough."

"Of course, you are." Adrien said. He'd worked with so many fake's over the years it was fair to say she was definitely more pretty than most. Not Marinette's standard, but he'd rank her as good as Chloè.

"That's really sweet," she reached out again and placed her hand on top of his. "You know, you're a really lovely person Adrien, and your children are wonderful."

He couldn't help the tears filling his eyes. After everything that had happened with his own father, for anyone to say he was parenting well sent him into absolute turmoil. Tom and Sabine were used to Adrien's weekly breakdowns, after all, they were a rock for him. A stable support.

"That really means a lot." He placed one hand over hers and smiled.

"You know," she pulled her hand away and reached for her pen and a piece of paper, only to drop the pen on the floor and excuse herself to search for it.

As Melissa was under the table, her next parent appointment entered the room. Adrien waved to Kagami as she seated herself on the one of the waiting chair's, putting his thumbs up to let her know the meeting was going well.

"Got it!" Melissa's excited voice grew louder as she sat up straight with her pen in hand. She scribbled something down on a piece of paper and then looked back at Adrien. "Do the children spend all their time with you, or do you manage to get some time for yourself?"

"I adore them, I really do, but sometimes they're quite a lot to handle. Luckily, they have wonderful aunties and uncles," he turned to Kagami and dropped her a wink, only to be met with an eye roll and a stare, "and their grandparents are extremely helpful too. They actually have them at the moment, I'm hoping to grab some flowers for my wife and the twins tend to fight over the colours if I take them with me. You see her favourites used to be red roses, so they always want to buy those." He let out a laugh. The twins always grabbed her the same flowers, but over the years Marinette had grown more fond of white ones. To the ones representing the purity of love.

"That's very sweet of you, it must be so strange to not have her here today."

Adrien wasn't too sure on the wording, but shrugged it off. He noticed Kagami wriggle around in her seat and wondered what was wrong.

"Oh, definitely. This was one of her dreams, to be here for their first parents consultation, I just can't believe she got ill." Adrien placed a hand through his hair, his face transforming into hurt.

"Hey, it's okay." Melissa moved around next to Adrien, and placed an arm over his shoulders. "These things happen."

"She didn't deserve it though. Seriously, if you knew everything she went through over the past few years you'd understand. She's such a fighter, it's a shame something so ... so ... lame took her down."

As Adrien felt himself fall into turmoil for his wife, Melissa brushed her hand backwards and forwards over his shoulders. An attempt at comforting ... or, maybe more?

"You know, I can always come over and help you if you need it." She took the piece of paper from where she'd been sitting and slipped it into Adrien's hand. "Take my number, perhaps we could meet up sometime."

Adrien's eyes opened wide. What had just happened? Before he could formulate words, Kagami had bounded over and pulled Adrien out of his seat.

"Adrien, I've just heard from Luka, you never told me Marinette had to cancel tonight because she had the flu."

"Marinette?" Melissa's eyebrows frowned down as she stood up herself.

"Yes, his wife."

Melissa covered her mouth with her hands. "I am so sorry ... I thought ... oh dear."

Adrien looked between the two girls trying to piece it all together. He knew something was going on but his head just didn't seem to be catching up.

"I, um, what?" Adrien stood up, piece of paper still in hand, only for Melissa to grab it from him, screw it up and throw it in the bin.

"I'm sorry about that, I, um, please don't tell anyone. I don't want to lose my job."

"Why would you lose your job?" Adrien asked, completely oblivious to what was happening.

Kagami stared at her friend with a tight jaw, and he couldn't help but flinch back a little. "She was hitting on you. What did you think she was doing?"

"I thought she was just being nice." He shrugged, only for Kagami to cross her arms and stare him down. "Why were you hitting on me?" He asked Melissa.

"I thought your wife was dead! You told me you'd laid her to rest."

"In bed!" Kagami announced, "she needed to sleep, and unfortunately with her stubborn ass someone physically has to put her there or she doesn't do it. Don't you think the kindergarten would have been informed if something as drastic as that had happened."

Melissa began to shrink back into her chair and laughed out a breathy laugh, and rubbed her face with her hands. "I thought he was flirting with me. He called me pretty."

"It's Adrien Agreste, the world's biggest marshmallow, all he can be is nice."

"I thought it was just the tabloids making him seem like a sweetheart."

Adrien stood up and made his way to the door. "I better get going, I think my wife will deal with these meetings for the remainder of the year." His voice was high pitched and squeaky. This did not go as planned.

"Nice to meet you, M. Agreste, and I'm sorry."

Adrien nodded and walked out of the door, one thing for certain, that did not go as expected and worst of all he forgot to ask about the reading.